It's Complicated || Larry & Ziam [COMPLETED]

eighteen

"...this exam will count as fifteen percent of your final grade in this class."

Louis's eyes widened at the words his teacher had just spoken. He'd felt the usual amount of excitement from sitting next to Harry, but he soon realized that he shouldn't focus on anything about that because of this exam.

Fifteen percent.

Louis was never good at taking tests. It was something about the pressure, the stress to do well, that gave him a kind of anxiety that had nothing to do with anything other than a piece of paper and a pencil in front of him. He'd always been bad at tests, and, glancing at Harry for a moment, he knew that no amount of tutoring could help that.

Harry seemed normal, like a huge exam like that was hardly a challenge. It probably wasn't hard for him, but Louis hoped with a pang in his chest that Harry wouldn't forget that he still needed help with it.

The green-eyed boy definitely didn't need to help him. The tutoring helped him in absolutely no way and actually wasted his time. Louis looked down at his lap at that thought — he was simply wasting Harry's time.

He sighed heavily as soon as he left the classroom. Fifteen percent. That exam would kill him.

"You alright?" Harry asked him once he'd made it to his locker.

"Yeah," Louis answered, puzzled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"The test. You're freaked out."

"You could tell?"

"Yeah..." Harry responded hesitantly, like he didn't know how Louis would react. He was concerned, was the first thought that reached Louis's mind. Harry actually cared about something like that — something that affected Louis and had nothing to do with himself.

"I'm going to fail."

"You won't. If we keep studying, you'll know all you need to know. It'll be permanently drilled into your mind and you'll do great."

Louis couldn't help but smile at that. "Maybe."

"You probably shouldn't worry too much about it yet, though. You can come over whenever if you need help — my mum is interrogating me to see when the next time you're coming over will be. You've got a big fan."

"I'm a massive fan of her as well," the older boy said with a laugh. "But you don't have to help me."

Harry gave a puzzled look. "What?"

"I'm just wasting your study time for yourself," Louis told him, avoiding eye contact.

"You really think that?"

"It's just the truth."

"It's not the truth. I'd tell you that I'm done tutoring you if I thought that. And it does help me. You really think that I just help you out just because I'm too polite to tell you to fuck off?"

Louis laughed. God, Harry was adorable. "Okay. Thank you, then, for everything."

"You're welcome," Harry said with a grin. "And I wasn't kidding about my mum. She loves you. Always asks me when you're coming over again."

"Anytime you'll let me."

"Well, soon, then. You'll have to come over soon."

Louis smiled. "Sounds great."

/ / / \ \ \

"We need to do it, Z. We really need to do it because it's getting on my nerves and I feel like I'm going to blurt it out every time I talk to him. He's our best friend, and he has been for years. Please, Zayn."

Zayn took a deep breath. "Okay. We'll tell Lou."

"Really?" Liam's eyes lit up, and maybe it wouldn't be that bad, Zayn thought, if it made Liam this happy. Anything that made Liam this happy should be preserved and always, always given to him. Plus, Louis couldn't hate them anyway, right?

Zayn felt the usual amount of worry from the thought as he nodded. He really didn't want Louis to hate him. If he didn't have Louis, who else could he talk to when he had a problem that Liam wouldn't understand, or when Liam was the problem? They'd been best friends for years. Zayn didn't know what he'd do without him if this relationship with Liam tore them all apart. Sure, he wanted Liam, so much, but sacrificing Louis for him didn't seem like anything he wanted, either. He wanted both of them in his life. Maybe even Harry, too, if he was a good enough friend for Li and Louis to like him.

"It'll be okay," Liam reassured him softly, gently kissing a spot between his collarbone and neck. "He'll be okay with it. With us. We'll be fine."

"You don't know that," Zayn answered, but didn't pull away. Liam had a way of comforting him that he didn't truly understand.

"I do know that. We're going to make it even if Louis freaks out and disowns us. What could he possibly say or do to tear us apart? And how do you know that he'd care anyway?"

"He'll care that we didn't tell him earlier," Zayn snapped.

Liam smiled a little. "If that bothers him, we'll just tell him that we had to make sure we were serious enough about it to tell him."

"What if he tells everyone else?"

"You really think, after knowing him all these years, that he'd do something like that?"

"I don't know."

"Z," Liam said fondly, moving his arms from Zayn's hips to around his shoulders, "we're his family. And he's ours. You know how his parents are. If he thinks that his real family can be thrown away at something as simple as telling him about something that he can't change, then I think he's crazy. Plus, he knows us. He had to see that we're close."

"Yeah," Zayn murmured, but he didn't sound convinced. "Can we not tell him at school, though? I'm sorry, but I'm terrified of people who don't know us overhearing."

"Whatever you want, love. We'll be okay no matter what happens, alright? We can go to the bakery after school — he's always there."

"He's always there?" Zayn echoed. "The one where Harry works?"

"Yeah," Liam answered, like it was something that meant nothing.

"That's weird." Zayn knew Louis, and he wouldn't go to the bakery where Harry worked every single day unless something was up. "They're close?"

"Yeah, they are. I'm glad. It's amazing how quickly Lou got over whatever he had against Harry. They're really good friends now."

"You don't think that's weird, at all?"

"No. I'm glad that he has another good friend besides us. I feel bad sometimes, like we're leaving him alone whenever we hang out alone. I don't feel nearly as bad about it when I know that he has another good friend to hang out with."

Zayn frowned. Louis wasn't alone. "Was it about that job that Louis needed a while ago?"

"I think it's more than that. I don't think their friendship has anything to do with the job."

"I'm worried that something's up with Louis."

"Don't be. He's okay. If anything's wrong, we can ask him about it later when we tell him."

Zayn nodded. But the feeling that something that he didn't know was happening wouldn't go away. Liam's puppy-like innocence and naïveté were adorable, but it was times like this when Zayn wished he could open his eyes and see something without having to be told every detail.

Whatever. Zayn would see if something was up for himself when they went to the bakery later.